Fate reveals an unknown father

George J. Kalvinek Jr. and Kenneth Robbins wound up as roommates at the Millbury Health Care Center because both men suffer from a chronic lung disease.

Robbins was assigned to Room 122 first. Kalvinek moved in two days later. The men exchanged the sort of small talk typical of strangers thrown together due to circumstance, although they had little in common but their illness. Robbins, 80, is a retired beer distributor who had lived on a large farm in Sutton. Kalvinek is 64, a former truck driver from Worcester.

They talked about their wives and kids, about how Robbins' wife died last November after 58 years of marriage. They didn't discuss their fathers, but if they had, Kalvinek would have told his roommate that he never knew his dad because his parents split up shortly after he was born. He and his sister were raised in Main South by their mother, who wasn't a big fan of her ex-husband.

"She never wanted to talk about him," Kalvinek said. "But when she did, she didn't speak well of him."

As Kalvinek got older, he learned that his father remarried and had more kids. He heard that he was living in Dudley, then Sutton. He often thought of looking up his father, but said he didn't want to be disloyal to his mom. In 2006, he read in the newspaper that his father had died at the age of 83.

Kalvinek revealed nothing of this to Robbins, of course. Then, after the men had been roommates for several days, one of Robbins' sons came to visit his dad. When the son was leaving, he noticed his dad's roommate's name tag on the door.

"Hey dad, you're rooming with George Kalvinek," his son said.

"Cut your malarkey," his father replied. "George is dead."

The two roommates looked at each other. Kalvinek told Robbins that he was named after the father he never knew.

As a dumbstruck Kalvinek listened, Robbins told him that he was a maintenance supervisor at Pleasant Valley Country Club in Sutton three decades ago when the elder Kalvinek walked in looking for work. Robbins said he hired him on the spot and the men became good friends. Kalvinek also worked on Robbins' farm in Sutton and grew close to the family. Soon he was eating dinners and spending holidays with the Robbins.

Kalvinek was transfixed.

"I wanted to know so much about my father, and Ken had all the answers," he said.

Kalvinek learned that his father had a pilot's license and loved to fly. He learned that he was an Army veteran who was wounded in Germany. He learned that he could fix anything, that he loved to fish, that he had an easygoing personality that endeared him to friends. His father had his faults, but Kalvinek was finally able to flesh out the human being behind the faceless family myth.

Within days, Robbins' kids brought pictures of the elder Kalvinek to show to his namesake. The resemblance was striking. Kalvinek stared for a long time, overcome with emotion.

"I couldn't believe it," he said. "After all these years, I was finally looking at my father."

Staff members believe that fate brought the men together.

"What were the chances they ended up in the same room?" wondered Laurie Johnson, director of social services for Millbury Health Care. "It gives George closure. He would have gone to his grave without learning the other side of his father."

Illness brought two men together. Serendipity joined a father with his son.

"I'm so grateful," Kalvinek said. "I know I met Ken for a reason. And after 64 years, I feel like I know my dad."